Rain pelted us all night, water soaked through our tentís canvas and left everything damp. Winged ants, responding to the wet weather, emerged from the ground and flew in giant clouds, mating and trying to establish new colonies. The ants covered us, crawling over our clothes, faces, and hair. At least they didnít bite. We kept our mouths closed too. The rain turned the road into a quagmire. We dug our truck out of numerous mud holes as we sloshed our way to our next destination, Lake Manyara. By afternoon we reached a lodge that sat on a Rift Valley ridge and offered a good view of the lake. We didnít see any tree- sitting lions, peculiar behavior demonstrated by lions in the Manyara game park, but Ed saw his first elephants, giraffes, and buffaloes grazing in the grasses by the lake.